Method and apparatus for chilling containers



P 27,1949 v w. L. MORRISON ,1

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CHILLING CONTAINERS Filed April 26, 1946 h izl r L.'Morrzison 5 mama '7 flzl'orn ys Patented Sept. 27, 1949 UNITED}.

' GONTAINERS Willard LrMorrison, Lake Forest, 111.

Applicatiom'April 26, 1946, -Sria1 N'o.665183 My invention relates :tor. anzimprovementdn. a

shipping. container.- and hasior onepurposei to provida a means of shipping; frozen. materials,

such as fod.-

Another. purpose is to ship. frozen materials. in amanner that will. maintain. the ireezingtemperlature for a:considerablelength of time;

Y. Another puiiposeris toprovide: a meanswhereby the-food and-othenmaterials; can be frozenand the shipping containencooledwith.the sameprocess eleznent' :at the -.same time;

Another purposeds to providei-means: for'simulie taneously initially cooling a shippingcontainer and :the material to: be-ishipped :.within the container.

Other-purposes will a-pp'ear fromtime tatimein the course otthespecification and. claims-.

Theta inverrionis illustrated more or. less diagrammatically. in. the accompanying. drawings,

wherein; r Fig... .leis-a-perspective view, illustrating .xtherefri'gerating. unit withdrawn. from. the combination';

. Fig? 2; is a..vertical..section,-. more-or. less. diagrammatically. illustrating the refrigerating ele-.-

nientandjtsacycle; and:

Fig.3 is :a sectionzillustrating theishippin'gicontainer closedandriready for: shipment;

Like. parts are-v indicated. by; like: symbols throughout the specification: and drawing..

Referring to: the. drawings; 1. illustrate-,more or :less diagrammatically; a: shipping container l, w-hiohmay. have. side and-bottom walls and: is shown :as-having; an: open: topr. It will .beunder; stoodthat the walls 'are of: insulating materiaLor any suitable heat insulation. I illustrate the outer wallsurface at- 2 and the. inneriwall surfaceatzs. 1 generally indicates any suitable in:- sulating body or material .of which the container isformed. Adapted: tobepositioned in the container and preferably removable therefromr-isthe open'top; food containeril The parts are preferably so shaped or proportioned that a circumferentially side spaceifi' extends aboutthe sides of the food container 5. I

In employing my invention, the container I may be positioned upon any suitable support [2. Any suitable":plattorzrmnay be -used or a floor of the room in which the methodis carried out AS- sumeth'atthe container is in theposition shown in :Fig; lfwith the food container. 5 in place, and suitably. charged with the. food.- or other: material; to-.- be handled, thecircumferentiallyf extending refrigerating member or cold plate I may be dropped into position, in which it is shown in 3; Claims. (01. 62-170) Fig. 2. Thedetails' of the refrigerating member do not, of themselves, form-part of the present invention. I illustrate, however, any suitable membersil. which may be driven by; any suitable motor.'9;:, l0 indicatesa high pressure duct ex tending to any: suitable condenser l I The liquid. refrigerant. flows at high" pressurealong the supply duct hi to any suitable pressure reducing means indicated at iii. The. volatile refrigerant is .then evaporated in the member or plate I and returnsrby the suction duct lfitothe compressor 81: It willbe understood that'any suitable volatile-refrigerantmaybeemployed and any suitableref-rigerating cycle to cool the refrigerating member or plate-1, to; the desired sub-freezing temperature. The entire operation may advantageously be carried outiin-a coldzone or refrigeratedspaca After the food: or other material in thecontainerzihasbeen reduced to an adequately low temperature therefrigerating member 'i may bewithdrawmandany suitable cover Ia applied, to close-theotherwiseopen.topsof the containers 1 and: 5;- It will be understood that the cover la has suitable heat insulating characteristics, and is. suitably sealed .to and secured to the container I. g

The method above described is applicable to thesimultaneous-coolingof both containers and theincontents. It'may be applied to containers of .avariety otsizes, including containers which are used with or which actually constitute wheeled. vehicles, such asrefrigerating cars or the like- It willbeunderstood, however, that-it is within thelimits-of my-invention partially to pre-coolthe contents, if Iwish. For example, where large masses of material, such as foods-are being handled,.alr eady frozen bodies or containers may be. arranged in the container 5, to be thereafterreduced to the predetermined desired low. temperature. In either event the shipper container itself, andfits contents, are being subjectedto the simultaneous heat abstraction regardlessofwhether either orboth may have been previouslypartly cooled by some. other means.

Whereas I illustrate, as in thesfiguresherein, means for permitting the insertion or position ing-. .of-a refrigeratingelement;such as 7. between theinner face .oftheouter container wall and. the outer. face of; the food storage or container, it will; be. understoodthat. it is immaterial so far as. myiinven-tionis concerned whether the refrigeration member i is inserted from above, laterally onfrombelowz It -is-also= immaterial whether thezrefrigeratinggmember:Tismoved into position:

in: arelationato:thacontainners I? and 5. or whether the containers 1 and are moved into position with relation to the refrigerating member 1. For example, the platform l2, may be a movable section with supports 12a adjusted by some piston means. Any suitable means, not herein shown, may be employed for raising the platform l2 and with it the containers l and 5 in relation to a more or less fixed, or possibly somewhat movable refrigerating member 7. Thus the entire excursion may be performed by raising the platform I2, or, as alternatives, the member 7 may be depressed or moved into position in relation to a fixed container I, or, under some circumstances both may be moved, in order to reduce the total excursion of either.

I illustrate members I and 5 with a top opening, as it is probably the most advantageous. However, the opening, during the cooling operation, may be at the bottom or at the sides. This can be done by merely tilting or positioning the containers I and 5 in the desired relation to the refrigerating member I.

It will be realized that whereas I have shown a practical and operative device and one adapted for the carrying out of my method, nevertheless, the device may be widely changed and the method widely varied without departing from the spirit of my invention.

For example, and assuming that the outer member I is used for chilling the inner member 5, the inner member 5, which may be the refrigcrating car or the like, is in efi'ect cooled by positioning it in a pool of super-cooled air, chilled by the refrigerating member 1, and contained within the inner surface 3 of the outer container I. In this embodiment of my invention, the movable container 5, after being suitably chilled, may be removed from the container l, and separately handled. When the container 5 is to be removed from the outer container it may advantageously be filled with super-cooled material which has been cooled elsewhere. I may find it advanta- 'geous to apply adjacent cooling area and, in the course of conveying the food from its chilling zone, I may pass chilled air with it and employ it to chill or to assist in chilling the inner container 5 within the outer insulating container 1. It will be understood that when the inner container 5 is to be employed separately from the outer container 1', it is itself formed to a suitable thickness, of suitable heat insulating material. After it has been chilled, and filled with a chilled material, any suitably separate closure is applied to it, in heat; insulating relationship.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows:

My device and method will facilitate the process of shipping frozen food by combining the process of freezing the food and cooling the shipping container in one action when the refrigeration plate is inserted between the walls of the shipper container and the food container. Between the walls of the cold plate, refrigerant is flooded in sufiicient quantity to achieve quick freezing of the food.

The cold plate can either be lowered into space 6 between the food container and the shipping container or the shipping container with the food container inside it can be raised by various means into position so that the cold plate slides into space 6 between the food container and shipping container.

When the food is frozen the shipping container will also be reduced intemperature, and the cold plate either lifted out of the space 6 between the food container and the shipping container or the shipping container holding the food container lowered from its place when the cold plate occupies the space 6 between the food container and the shipping container. The cover la consisting of an inner and outer wall with insulation between is then placed on top of the shipping container and the device is ready to be shipped or stored for a considerable length of time while a freezin temperature is maintained.

Other applications and modifications and purposes of my invention have been described above.

Where the unit, as shown in Fig. 3, is shipped after merely having the cover Ia applied to it, the space 6 can be suitably filled with appropriately formed insulating material, shown at 6a in Fig. 3.

I claim:

1. The method of preparing food and the like for shipment and storage, which consists in providing an insulating receptacle, placing therein a removable food container, of such size as to leave a substantial clearance between the inner walls of the receptacle and the outer walls of the container, inserting liquid tight heat-extracting means in and substantially filling said clearance, continuing the extraction of heat until the tem perature of the interior of the receptacle and the container contents has been reduced to an adequately low temperature, then removing the heatextracting means and closin the receptacle and container for shipment and storage and preventing free circulation of ambient air about the food container.

2. The method of preparing food and the like for shipment and storage, which consists in providing an insulating receptacle, placing therein a removable food container, of such size as to leave a substantial clearance between the inner walls of the receptacle and the outer walls of the container, inserting heat-extracting means in and substantially filling said clearance, continuing the extraction of heat until the temperature of the interior of the receptacle and the container contents has been reduced to an adequately low temperature, then removing the heat-extracting means, filling the clearance with additional insulation, and then closing the receptacle and the container for shipment and storage.

3. In combination an insulating receptacle, a food container removably mounted therein, a heat-extracting means adapted to be inserted in the receptacle between the walls thereof and the container, means for operating said heat-extracting means to reduce simultaneously the temperature of the inner walls of the container and the receptacle and contents to a temperature sufficiently low for shipment and storage, and a closure adapted to close the receptacle after the heat extracting means are removed to prevent free circulation of ambient air about the receptacle.

WILLARD L. MORRISON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,441,672 Ellis Jan. 9, 1923 2,191,344 Erickson Feb. 20, 1940 2,223,581 Stebbins Dec. 3, 1940 2,356,779 Morrison Aug. 29, 1944 

